Label applying apparatus

ABSTRACT

A label applying apparatus according to the present invention is constituted such that only energization power for a release operation of a manual lever is stored up during a grasp operation of the manual lever to a grip of a main body, and a label is delaminated from a backing paper web by the release operation of the manual lever, wherein the release operation ceases automatically when the release operation corresponds to a length of the label.

This is the U.S. National Phase of International Patent Application No.PCT/JP2004/010330, filed Jul. 21, 2004, which relies for priority uponJapanese Patent Application No. 2003-434123, filed Dec. 26, 2003, thecontents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is related to a label applying apparatus forlabeling a label in a composite label web in which many printed labelsare temporarily adhered in series one by one with a predeterminedinterval on tape-shape backing paper web on an object.

BACKGROUND ART

In this kind of label applying apparatus, as for the length (pitch) of alabel, it is possible to deal with a label having a maximum lengthallowed from a viewpoint of mechanism and a label having shorter lengthalthough there is some restriction.

In a conventional label applying apparatus, in grasp operation (action)and release operation of a manual lever which is pivotally supported ona main body to a grip arranged on the main body, the grasp operation isconsidered as a transfer process for delaminating the label from abacking paper web from the initial stage, and the release operation is amere return process of the manual lever.

An amount of the grasp operation of the manual lever to the grip of themain body for delaminating a label from the backing paper web and forfeeding it increases in proportion to the length of the label. In otherwords, the shorter the label is, the earlier a stop time in the graspoperation becomes. Therefore, in such grasp operation, the graspoperation is carried out within a short time (small quantity), whichgives a feeling of resistant reaction to an operator since theoperator's hand has not fully grasped the grip. That is, this serves asrepeat of the grasp operation without giving a feeling of sufficiency.This gives easily an operator a feeling of fatigue.

An example of the conventional label applying apparatus has beendisclosed in the following patent documents.

[patent documents 1]: Japanese published unexamined patent applicationToku Kai Hei No, 01-099946

[patent documents 2]: U.S. Pat. Specification No. 4,986,874

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to offer a label applyingapparatus equipped with a mechanism for grasping a lever and releaseoperation, which make possible feeding of a predetermined quantity of acomposite label web without giving an operator the feeling of fatigue.

In order to attain the purpose, the label applying apparatus accordingto the present invention comprises, as a most important feature, in thegrasp operation and the release operation of a manual lever which ispivotally supported to the main body to the grip of a main body, aprocess in which the grasp operation accumulates a driving force for therelease operation and at the same time it does not transfer the backingpaper web of the composite label web, and a process in which the releaseoperation transfers the backing paper web for delaminating the labelfrom the initial stage, wherein by detecting the entering edge of thefollowing label, the release operation of the manual lever is madestopped automatically at a position of an amount departed from the gripapproximately proportional to the length of the label, and the graspoperation to the grip of the manual lever to prepare for delaminatingthe following label is carried out to complete the grasp operation fromthe stop position.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevation showing the outside view of a label applyingapparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation showing the principal part of a labelapplying apparatus in a static state in which a side cover including alabel holder portion is removed.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation showing a state in which the manual lever hasbeen grasped, as same as FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing a state in which the manual lever isreleased at the initial state as same as FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view at 5-5 line in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an expanded perspective diagram showing a backing papertransfer mechanism portion of a composite label web, and a bottom lid.

FIG. 7 is an expanded perspective diagram of an automatic stop mechanismportion to a backing paper transfer mechanism portion, and a stoprelease mechanism portion.

FIG. 8 is an expanded perspective diagram explaining an automatic stopaction.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged, expanded perspective diagram of a part of FIG. 7seen from the rear side.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIGS. 1-5, a main body 10 is constituted by a pair of sideplates 10A and 10B which are faced each other, and an applying roller 12is pivotally supported to a shaft 10C through a front edge frame 11(refer to FIG. 7) at the front end portion of the side plate 10B. A grip13 is formed so as to be able to move freely underside by extendedportions 10Aa and 10Ba of each side plate 10A and 10B at its rear end.

A label holder portion is constituted at an upper portion of center ofthe side-plate 10B and a holder-shaft 10Bb having projected shape (referto FIG. 5) is formed in one at the top portion. To the projected shapedend portion of the holder-shaft 10Bb, a roll holding plate 14 for thecomposite label web (a label roll) is constituted so as to enable todetach and attach by a holder-shaft 14A which is formed in one.

Furthermore, on the right-hand side of the applying roller 12, a turningplate 15 is arranged so that it can be fixed semi-freely, by using ascrew stop at a predetermined position and position adjustment can bemade to a longitudinal direction by using a U shape slot 10Bc of theside-plate 10B as a guide. The turning plate 15 is formed such that anupper surface is as label-receptacle-surface 15A, and a turning pin 16is pivotally supported at the left tip portion. Here, the semi-fixedposition of the turning plate 15 which is adjusted to the side-plate 10Bis at such state that the position becomes at more left (front)direction when an interval between a label and an adjacent label becomeslonger (wider), and the position becomes at more right (backward)direction if an interval between a label and an adjacent label isshorter (narrower).

A manual lever 20 is pivotally supported by a shaft 10D between sideplates 10A and 10B, and one side of the lever 20 to the shaft 10D is asaber-shape control unit, and at the other side a partial gear 20A isformed. The lever 20 is given a rotation habit, which rotates the leverto a direction so that the control unit is departed from the grip 13 bya stretch spring 21 stretched between the main body 10 and the lever 20.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the same and the following states.

In FIG. 1, the manual lever 20 is at a rest state where a limit positionin clockwise-direction rotation, when a label having a maximum length,which can be dealt with by the machine, is loaded.

In FIG. 2, the manual lever 20 is at a rest state in middle of theclockwise-direction rotation, which is approximately proportional to alength of the label when the label having somewhat shorter length thanthe case of FIG. 1 is loaded.

A sending lever 30 (refer to FIG. 6) is pivotally supported to the mainbody 10 by a shaft 10E. In the lever 30, a partial gear 30A geared to apartial gear 20A of the manual lever 20, a long slot 30B (refer to FIG.6), and a shallow concave portion 30C with an arc-shape surface at theside is formed.

With reference to FIG. 6 mainly, a backing paper web transfer blockconnected with the long slot 30B of the lever 30 will be explained.

First, to guiding rods 10F and 10G (refer to FIGS. 2-5) arranged at anupper and a lower position in an inner portion at the lower part of themain body 10.

A slide base 31 of U-like shape is supported so as to enable to slide byfitting into an upper hole 31 F and a lower hole 31G which are formed inthe slide base itself. On the slide base 31, a slide piece 32 isattached on an external surface at the inner side by the shaft 31A,wherein by fitting the slide piece 32 into the long slot 30B of thesending lever 30, the piece 32 and the long slot 30B are allowed toslide. Thus, it is constituted so that a rotation movement is made to beconverted into a linear motion.

A feed tooth frame 33 is supported rotatably in it by the shaft 31A onthe slide base 31. In the frame 33, the feed tooth 34 having doublehelical (herringbone) tooth in downward direction (a bottom lid) isattached at both surfaces at right and left sides, and a rotation habitof the clockwise rotation which is not so much strong is given to theslide base 31 by a coil spring 35. The rotation of the clockwisedirection is limited at a state that an external surface in theleft-side feed tooth 34 touches to a side surface 31B of U-shape bottomin the base 31. As for a counterclockwise rotation, it is possible tohave an escape allowance although it opposes against the spring 35.

Similarly, a stop tooth frame 36 is supported rotatably by a shaft 31C.On the frame 36, a sensor piece for stop detection 37 is arranged toupward direction at the tip at the right side, and to the frame 36, arotation habit of a counterclockwise rotation is given by a coil spring38. The rotation of the counterclockwise rotation is limited at a statethat an arm 36A touches to an overhanging portion 31D of the slide base31.

On a bottom lid 39 arranged at the bottom of the main body 10, columns39A and 39B stand at both ends in inner backward side. The bottom lid 39is pivotally supported to the main body 10 by fitting holes 39Aa and39Ba which are formed in it, into a guiding rod 10G, and a lock arm 39Cis installed consecutively to the column 39B and a cutter portion 39Dfor the backing paper web is formed at the right end, and areturn-prevention gear tooth 40 is attached near the left end. A lockarm 39C forms stage portion 39Ca and an inclined plane 39Cb at the tipportion, and it is related to a lock-release slide plate 41 arrangedinside a side plate 10B.

On the lock-release slide plate 41, a knob 41A projecting to a front ofthis side of the side plate 10B, and a prism 41B having a nearlytriangle shape at an upper left portion facing to a tip of the lock arm39C which is rectangle are formed, wherein an actuation habit of slidingto the right direction is given. A plane portion of the prism 41B entersunder the stage portion 39Ca of the lock arm 39C at a slide limitationposition of the right side, and the bottom lid 39 is locked tocompletely closure state. A lock-release slide plate 41 can slide to theleft direction by the knob 41A in resisting the actuation habit, andwhen the plane portion of the prism 41B is released from the stageportion 39Ca of the lock arm 39C, the bottom lid 39 is made to open wideby self-weight. Thus, if hold of the knob 41A is released, only theslide plate 41 returns to a limitation position at the right side by theactuation habit. On the other hand, if the bottom lid 39 is closed froman open state, it will act so that a slope 39Cb of the lock-arm 39C maypush up a slope faced in the direction of the lower right direction ofthe column 41B in the rotation process of the counterclockwise rotation.Therefore, the lock-release slide plate 41 resists against an actuationhabit, and it slides to the left. And since an action for pushing updisappears when touch between a slope and a slope is released, if theplane portion of the column 41B faces immediately after that at thestage-portion 39Ca of the lock-arm 39C, the slide plate 41 returns tolimitation position at the right by the actuation habit, the lock of thestage-portion 39Ca is locked, and the completely closed state is held bythe plane portion.

An automatic-stop unit and a stop release unit for transfer of thebacking paper web will be explained by mainly using FIGS. 7 and 8.

In the main body 10, a stop lever 42 which is extended to the right andthe left directions is pivotally supported by a shaft 10H (refer to FIG.2). A stop release plate 43 is pivotally supported by a shaft 10I (referto FIG. 2) at the side of the side plate 10B.

As for a front edge frame 11, an end of it is held by the shaft 10C tothe side plate 10B of the main body 10, and the other end of it is heldby a shaft 10J. Therefore, the front edge frame 11 has a form fixed tothe main body 10, and a check hole 11A is formed at the side of theplate side. The check hole 11A is arranged to face to a penetrated hole(not shown) which is located at the same position of side plate 10B.Furthermore, as another functional portion, a wall 11B extendingdownward at the right end is formed in the front edge frame 11.

A label holding 44 is pivotally supported to a shaft 10J, wherein a pairof overhanging 44A near the shaft portion, and a thin and long labelholding portion 44B are formed. After the pair of overhanging 44Atouches to the wall 11B of the front edge frame 11, it cannot be rotatedto clockwise direction.

A connecting frame 45 is pivotally supported to the shaft 10J, wherein acounterclockwise actuation habit is given by a compression spring 46stretched between the wall 11B of the front end frame 11, and one end ofit pivotally supports a connection rod 47 which enters into the mainbody through the penetrated check hole 11A.

A label sensor 48 is pivotally supported to the connection rod 47wherein a pull spring 49 is stretched between the connection frames 45,and it is in arranged at the rest state (a normal state) where a stressof the tension spring 49 is the least.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, the label sensor 48 is constitutedwith a sensor holding body 48A by which is a pivotally supported to theconnection frame 45 with a rod 47, and a sensor action component 48Bhaving a thin plate shape which is held by being inserted in the holdingbody 48A. In the stop lever 42, a slot 42Aa in a right arm 42A areformed, a saw tooth plate 50 having a saw tooth 50A is mounted, and oneend of the connection rod 47 is loosely fitted into a long slot 42Baformed in a left arm 42B.

In the stop release plate 43, a pin 43A which faces a surface on theleft side of the sending lever 30 is arranged toward an inner part ofback side, and a projection 43B which faces a slot 42Aa of the stoplever 42 is formed toward this side.

Next, an operation of the label applying apparatus concerning theembodiment of the present invention will be explained.

Firstly, FIGS. 1 and 5 are referred to.

The roll holding plate 14 is removed from the end of holder shaft 10Bbby rotating counterclockwise direction, and a roll-shape composite labelweb R on which a number of label L are temporarily adhered in series oneby one on the backing paper web S so as to have an interval space isinserted into the holder shaft 10Bb.

Then, it is again inserted into the end of the holder shaft 10Bb and itis fixed by rotating it to a clockwise rotation. By this way, a labelweb R is loaded by the holder shafts 10Bb and 14A.

Next, a portion in which the label L is temporarily attached on thebacking paper web S pulled out from the label web R is made to be passedthrough between a label receptacle surface 15A of the turning plate 15and the label holding section 44B of the label holding 44. Inserting andpenetrating of the portion on which the label L is temporarily attachedon the backing paper web S is carried out from a side (this side on thepaper surface) of the main body 10. Since the label sensor 48 (sensoraction component 48B) departs from the turning plate 15, if the manuallever 20 is grasped to the grip section 13 (it is good enough to be asmall) as explained later, grasping can be easily made without collidingwith the sensor action component 48B. After that if the lever 20 isreleased, the sensor action component 48B goes down on the label L.Then, FIG. 6 is also referred to. By using a knob 41A, the lock-releaseslide plate 41 is sided to the left direction resisting against theactuation habit, and a column 41B is removed from a stage section 39Caof the lock arm 39C.

By this way, the bottom lid 39 is made to open wide by its self-weight.A portion in which a label L is removed and is used only as a backingpaper web S is turned by the turning pin 16, and after leading it on thebottom of the main body 10 used as the inner side of the bottom lid 39,the bottom lid 39 is made to close. As a result, the backing paper web Sbecomes to face to the return prevention gear tooth 40 attached in thebottom lid 39 on a front side on which the label L is removed and itbecomes to face the feed tooth 34 in which a rear side is located at anopposite side of the bottom lid.

A state shown by FIGS. 2 and 8 is a state of rest as a label applyingapparatus. That is, as a label sensor 48 (a sensor-holding-body 48A), inresponse to touch of the leading edge of label L, by the reaction forcewhich pulls and resists a spring 49, it is rotated to a counterclockwisedirection on a connection pin 47 so that it may tiptoe from a normalstate. As a result, resisting against energization power of acompression spring 46, the connection frame 45 is rotated to a clockwiserotation. Therefore, a stop lever 42 is rotated to a clockwise rotationthrough a structure that the connection pin 47 and a long slot 42Ba areloosely fitted (to refer to FIG. 7). Thus, a saw-tooth 50A of a sawtooth plate 50 attached on the stop lever 42 is connected in anintrusion direction to the stop detection sensor piece 37 (refer to FIG.6) connected to the sending lever 30. As a result, a manual lever 20 ismade stopped at a middle position of release operation corresponding tothe length of label L, (it will be a state of FIG. 1, when the longestlabel which can be used by this machine is loaded).

In order to delaminate a label L fixed by the label sensor 48 from thebacking paper web, if grasp operation (counterclockwise rotation) of themanual lever 20 to a grip 13 which resists against a tension of astretch spring 21 start from a state of FIG. 2, a lever 30 is rotated toa direction of a clockwise rotation from a state in which a partial-gear20A and a partial-gear 30A are engaged, and then a slide base 31 isguided to guiding rods 10F and 10G and is made slide to the leftdirection from the position of FIG. 2. When the slide base 31 slides tothe left, the stop detection sensor piece 37 makes possible the rotationof the clockwise rotation resisting against the tension by the coilspring 38 on the slide base 31 of the stop frame 36. Accordingly, itslides on the-saw-tooth 50A without intermeshing. since the feed tooth34 makes possible the rotation of the counterclockwise directionresisting against the tension by the coil spring 35 on the slide base 31of the feed tooth frame 33, it slides without intruding the backingpaper web S. Although sliding friction to the backing paper web S of thefeed tooth 34 is a power having a direction to which the backing paperweb S is made returned to the left direction, there is no return of thebacking paper web S since a return prevention gear tooth 40 is arrangedso as to oppose against the direction on the bottom lid 39.

At the end of the clockwise rotation of the sending lever 30, a slopeand a concave portion 30C formed in the left side surface of the lever30 catches a pin 43A, and the stop release plate 43 is made rotated to aclockwise rotation, and a slot 42Aa. of a right arm 42A of a stop lever42 is pushed by projection 43B.

As a result, by resisting against the energization power of thecompression spring 46, the stop lever 42 is rotated to a clockwisedirection and a label sensor 48 (sensor-action-component 48B) goes up sothat it may depart from the turning plate 15, and at the same time itdeparts also from the label L at stopped state. Therefore, a reactionforce is released, and it returns to a state of rest (normal state) withthe stretched spring 49. The completion state of this grasp is shown inFIG. 3.

If the grasp to the manual lever 20 is opened from the state of FIG. 3,a manual lever 20 commences to release operation (clockwise rotation)from a grip 13 by the accumulated tension of the spring 21 and thesending lever 30 is rotated to a counterclockwise direction. Thus, theslide base 31 slides to the right.

Since the rotation of the clockwise direction of a feed tooth frame 33is limited by the side surface 31B when the slide base 31 slides towardthe right, the feed tooth 34 connects in the intrusion direction to thebacking paper web S, and transfers the backing paper web S to the rightand then exfoliation of the self rigidity of the label L commences atthe turning pin 16. And, the stop detection sensor piece 37 becomes toface a portion in which a saw tooth plate 50 in the right arm 42A of thestop lever 42 discontinues (a range equivalent to a label with the shortlength which is restricted to use by this machine) if, and begins tomove toward the right direction.

A predetermined amount of rotations is required although it is small inorder that a concave portion 30C releases capture of a pin 43A at acounterclockwise rotation of the sending lever 30. Accordingly, abinding force by a projection 43B to the slot 42Aa is lost from the timewhen the stop release plate 43 becomes free a little later than thestart time of the rotation. Therefore, the stop lever 42 is rotated to acounterclockwise direction by the energization power of the compressionspring 46 via the connection frame 45. Thus, the label sensor 48 (sensoraction component 48B) goes down on the label L that begins to bedelaminated through the connection rod 47, which is loosely fitted intothe long slot 42Ba of the left arm 42B. While waiting for arrival of theleading edge of the following label L, the saw tooth plate 50 attachedon the right arm 42A goes up so that it may evacuate from an orbit ofmovement of the stop detection sensor piece for 37. A state in themiddle of this rotation is shown in FIG. 4.

The backing paper web S is transferred by release operation of themanual lever 20 by restoration of this stretched spring 21, and a toplabel L is delaminated. Then, the leading edge of the following label Lis detected by the label sensor 48, and the whole mechanism stopsautomatically according to a length of label L. This operation is thesame as the explanation mentioned above.

Then, a surface having paste (a label applied surface) where mostportion of the label L has been delaminated except a back edge portionis forced to push on an object to be labeled by the applying roller 12,and then by pulling the main body 10 to the right direction, a label canbe attached to the object. Moreover, an obstructive backing paper web Swhich hung down from the cutter section 39D to the exterior of the mainbody 10 can be cut by the cutter section.

In addition, although control to the stop release plate 43 is performedby the sending lever 30, it can be constituted so that it is carried outby the manual lever 20.

As explained above, in the label applying apparatus according to thepresent invention, a user always can have a feeling of sufficiency, andgets hardly tired in the grasp operation, since it is constituted suchthat from an initial stage that a release operation is carried from astate in which grasping the manual lever to the grip of the main bodyhas been completed, a label is delaminated by transferring the backingpaper web in a composite label web, and at the same time, the releaseoperation of the manual lever is stopped by detecting an entering edgeof a following label automatically in the transfer process of thebacking paper web, and the grasp operation to the grip of the manuallever to prepare for delaminating the following label is carried outfrom the stop position which is departed from the grip and approximatelyproportional to the label length from a state in which the graspoperation has been completed to a state in which the grasp operation hasbeen completed.

1. A label applying apparatus comprising: a main body at a rear end ofwhich a grip portion is formed; a manual lever pivotally supported bythe main body and having a partial gear portion formed thereon and anoperating arm; a spring connected between the grip portion and themanual lever, to bias the manual lever in a direction away from the gripportion; a holder portion arranged at the main body accomodating acomposite label web in which many labels are temporarily adhered inseries at a predetermined interval on a backing paper web; an applyingroller arranged rotatably at a tip portion of the main body; a turningpin arranged adjacently to the applying roller, slidably contacted withthe backing paper web to which is fed from the holder portion, andleading the backing paper web to a bottom of the main body after aforemost label is peeled off from the backing paper web; a bottom lidpivotally supported at the bottom of the main body to open and close,and preventing the backing paper web from moving in a direction oppositeto a transfer direction of the backing paper web; a sending leverpivotally supported on the main body and having a partial gear portionthat meshes directly with the partial gear portion formed on the manuallever; a slide base slidably mounted at the bottom of the main body andconnected with the sending lever such as to be moveable relativethereto; a pair of feed teeth pivotally mounted on the slide base andengagable with the backing paper web which is led to the bottom of themain body; a stop detection sensor piece pivotally mounted on the slidebase; a stop lever pivotally supported on the main body and engagablewith the stop detection sensor piece; a stop release plate pivotallysupported on the main body and is rotated at a final stage of a rotationof the sending lever; a connecting frame pivotally supported on the mainbody, connected with the stop lever such as to be moveable relativethereto, and capable of disengaging the stop lever from the stopdetection sensor piece; and a label sensor pivotally supported on theconnecting frame and having a sensor blade which is engagable with afront edge of the foremost label on the backing paper web; wherein, in arelease travel of the manual lever from its fully grasped position,firstly, the backing paper web is transferred by the sending lever andthe slide base, the foremost label is peeled off from the backing paperweb by the turning pin, the stop lever is rotated through the labelsensor and the connecting frame by engagement of the front edge of thefollowing label with the sensor blade, the slide base is stopped by theengagement of the stop lever with the stop detection sensor piece, andthe transfer of the backing paper web is completed.